Festival Trip
by animeloverhomura
Summary: Conan, Amuro and Akai spend a night at a local festival. No plot, just cute fluff.
1. Chapter 1

This is just going to be a cute, fluffy adventure that in the back of my mind I've always wanted to have sense they seem like a cute family to me. Not to be taken too seriously.

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"Thank you for this again," Ran Mouri smiled and gave a deep bow. "I'm sorry that you had to do this. Please just call me if he causes any trouble, he can be a bit of an bother."

"It's no trouble. You can't control when you have karate practice anyway. So all that you want us to do is come to help watch over Conan while Mouri-sensei is out on a case?" Amuro asked, pointing at himself and Subaru during the 'us'. Ran gave a nod and turned around to pull her hair up into a ponytail using the mirror behind her.

'So, we'll be looking after the boy who is looking after the detective?" Subaru asked inside his head, almost grinning at the absurdity of the situation. 'Not that she knows what's going on with him.'

The door creaked open and all heads turned to the sound, watching as Conan, the so called 'bother', opened the door and came inside. "Oh, what are Subaru-niisan and Amuro-niisan doing here?" he asked, then mentally included, 'Especially since Akai Shuichi and Furuya Rei don't get along at all…'

"Ah, I suddenly got a call that we're going to do some last minute practice before the tournament so they are going to watch you at the festival while dad works on the case." Ran responded to her 'little brother's' question. She turned her head a bit and looked at the mirror to make sure her ponytail was secure, then picked up her bag.

" _I_ don't need to be watched…" Conan grumbled in the first childlike act he had done in quite some time before fully grasping what she had just told him, "Wait, what case?"

Ran stopped mid step to turn around in a confused expression, "Eh? We didn't tell you? Well dad has an adultery investigation to handle and the woman being suspected seems to be planning to go to the festival down the road tonight. Dad decided that it would be better if he brought a kid along, but since he can't watch you while at work I was going to come too. Amuro-san and Subaru-san will be taking you instead now."

Conan looked up to see the pleasant smiles of the two, and the hidden bloodlust spilling between them directed at each other to form dark waves. "R-really? Well I'm sure that will go just...fine…"

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"Ok, that's the couple I'm going after," Kogoro whisper-yelled to himself, "get some good pictures of them together and I'll be rich!"

"You attract too much attention by hiding behind a pole oji-san." Conan added in, pointing to the people on the side looking at the man hiding behind a pole wearing a hat and sunglasses at night. Hearing him, Kogoro jumped in the air and upon descent he slipped, crashing his head on the ground.

"Get out of the way brat! I'm doing adult work!" Kogoro glared with as much dignity as possible upon picking himself up. "Where are your babysitters?"

"They. Are. Not. My. Babysitters." Conan began with a glare that sent Kogoro a few inches back before he continued, "And they're coming this way."

"Hi there Conan-kun." Subaru said with one hand on a scarlet scarf around his neck and the other laying flat next to his black yukata. Amuro quickly joined them in a blue yukata and white bag.

"What's in the bag, Amuro-niisan?" Conan asked looking over to it.

"Some things Mouri-sensei asked me to bring for this." Amuro answered while he held the bag out to Mouri, "It would be better for him to be able to disguise while here."

Conan nodded as Mouri took the bag and went to a back restroom to change. When he returned he was dressed much more suiting for the current situation, wearing a dark orange kimono. Conan's while kimono with light blue trimming finished the wardrobe and allowed Kogoro to realize that he lost track of the couple.

"Calm down oji-san, I saw where they went, we can bring you to them." Conan said as he started to lead the group to the left near all the way to a short cliff above a small flower garden. When Conan pointed to the couple dashed off into cover in an attempt to remain hidden, not noticing that he had tripped Conan in the process. Just as Conan started to catch himself the deafening bang of a firework startled him, leading him to start to fall.

Amuro and Subaru instantly reached out to catch him, but he was too far by just a few small but obvious inches. Missing him, both adults lept off the cliff themselves, using the rocks on the edge of the cliff to avoid any injuries.

At the bottom they found Conan clutching his leg in pain, small amounts of blood seeping out. Subaru tore off a piece of his scarf, letting Amuro finish the first aid care he was giving to Conan. In the meantime, Subaru pulled out his phone to call Mouri. The second he dialed the number he only heard a quick, "Sorry, gotta stay silent. This couple keeps almost noticing me. Just punish the brat for whatever mistake he makes yourselves, I'm turning my phone on airplane mode now," without being able to say anything.

Subaru sighed and instead turned so that his back was facing Conan as he knelt down. "Maybe you should just get on my shoulders." Amuro picked Conan up and carefully placed the kid on the shoulders of someone he suspected to be his worst enemy. At the very least, however, Amuro knew that despite all that he hated about Akai, he would never let harm come to the boy who was one of the smartest people in the world.

"Now what do we do?" Conan asked, "I thought he wanted us to help him blend in."

"Actually," Subaru began, "Ran told us that it was her idea. Mouri-san just went along with it after she said that he couldn't leave you at home by yourself for the whole night." Ah, that made sense.

"So, I suppose we're just going to have to go around the festival now. I don't think Mouri-sensei is going to want you around with a damaged leg. What do you want to see first?" Conan thought about Amuro's question for a while and looked around at the different options before pointing to the area that had shooting game and driving simulator.

"How about we try that those two?" he asked. Letting Amuro start off at the driving simulation they watched as another man came up and challenged Amuro, while the two spectators pitied the man in the back of their minds. Even if the man was ridiculously good at the game, it was going to be hard to come up against someone as skilled at driving as Amuro.

The man was not ridiculously good at the game.

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After Amuro broke the high record in the racing game Conan was switched over to Amuro while Subaru went to try out the shooting game. Subaru smiled pleasantly as he approached the stand, but the second he picked up the gun he realized just how much it was modeled after a real one.

It was a mistake Conan's part to have not expected that Akai's first experience of holding something that even resembled a gun would be pleasant, but to hold one that felt almost real was absolutely terrifying. In a short explanation he destroyed the record and left the workers at that ran that particular stand on leave for the next month.

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After pulling Amuro and Subaru away from the games that had attracted quite a crowd Conan recommended that they try some of the snacks. Several stalls later they each had a piece of mochi and a stick of dango. Conan, still riding on top of Amuro started feeling sleepy. 'Stupid body needing the same amount of sleep as a kid.'

"Want to go home?" Subaru asked, he and Amuro both giving a small smirk as they watched the boy who had been able to outsmart Gin, Vermouth, and who knows how many other organization members act like the kid he appeared.

"Well I'm sorry for needing the same amount of sleep as any other kid," Conan responded grumpy from sleep deprivation. "I'm just going to rest a little while," was the final mumble as Conan leaned his head on Amuro's and fell asleep.

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So yeah, no plot or anything. Just something that would be super cute to see. Ever since the flashback chapter with Conan and the Akai family I've wanted to see something like this. (The part where Akai was cuddling Conan was just adorable), so I decided to make one myself.


	2. Chapter 2

This might not completely fit but I thought this was a cute idea so I wanted to try writing it. It's completely ridiculous but I think it's also adorable.

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"I'm sure it's completely safe, you said. I'll be able to handle it if anything went wrong, you said. I don't have anyone else to experiment on so you'll just have to suck it up, you said." Conan repeated to Haibara as she rolled her eyes.

"I will be able to fix this, it's not permanent. You're just exaggerating the seriousness of the situation, at most it will last two days." Haibara reassured despite being barely able to keep herself from laughing. "And I technically didn't lie, you aren't injured. It's nothing I can't fix even if it did go slightly wrong and I really don't have anyone else to try these things out on. Besides, you agreed that it was a worthwhile experiment to try out under the condition that I made sure you were not hurt."

"You call this not at all hurt?"

"It'll go back to normal. I also thought you agreed that it was a good idea to do some experimenting into how we shrank in the first place."

"I guess I did…" Conan trailed off as Haibara continued watching him with observing and curious eyes, the eyes of a scientist who found something that interested them.

Both child-teens broke out from their discussion when they heard the front door open. Haibara quickly hid Conan and went to see who it was. As she peaked into the hallway she noticed that there were two people there who she absolutely didn't want to come.

"Subaru-niichan, Amuro-niichan… Why are you here?" Pushing down the familiar feeling of panic that made her want to run when they focused their attention on her she gave them her best I'm-just-a-cute-little-girl smile and waited for their answer.

Amuro smiled when he saw her and answered. "Actually we came to look for Conan-kun. Mouri-sensei wants to talk to him and Ran-san said that he was coming over here to work on a project with you."

Fighting off her desire to fidget or run Haibara gave them a regretful look and met their eyes. "I'm sorry, you just missed him. He was here working on a project with me but we finished all we could do today so he left to get something to eat. I'm not sure where he is, I'm afraid."

"...I see." Subaru answered then looked to Amuro. Based on their body language it was clear that they didn't believe a single work Haibara had just said to them. Not her calm expression or cheerful voice or the actual meaning of what she said.

"It's fine." Conan's voice surprised Subaru and Amuro into giving a slight jump, having not felt the boy's presence anywhere. "You can trust them, just take me out and we can explain some of what happened."

Without turning to the direction of the voice Haibara pursed her lips and checked. "Are you absolutely sure? We can't explain most of this to them."

Subaru decided to cut in, "We don't need all the details. Mouri just wants to know that Conan is alright before he goes on the case. Our plan was actually to take him to a festival so he isn't worried about but if there's a problem with that we can change our plan."

Hesitating for a moment Haibara finally sighed and reached into her jacket pocket. She pulled out something with cupped hands so that the two men couldn't see what was inside before she brought one hand down and let them see what was inside.

Conan drew a big gasp of air having finally gotten the wall over him off and leaned back, sitting up against Haibara's thumb.

"Eh?" Neither Subaru no Amuro made any reaction for a second as their eyes became wider and they looked around to see if this was a joke.

It wasn't. Conan really was now about the size of a baseball and was resting in the palm of Haibara's hand, wearing doll clothes that was still a bit too big.

"Uh, hi. I'm afraid I won't be able to show up in front of Kogoro but I can probably make a call or something since my voice has stayed the same. Guess this probably isn't what you thought would happen when you came so you might want to rethink your plan."

"...For now let's call him and let you talk to him." Amuro finally suggested allowing everyone else to snap out of the odd field of tension that had formed. Despite not having any idea what had happened Furuya Rei and Akai Shuichi were both seasoned genius investigators, they could handle something like this… probably.

Hesitantly reaching his hand out Subaru watched as Conan jumped from Haibara's open palm into his. The first thought that crossed his mind was how efficient it would be to use a genius this size as a spy on the organization. He would fit as a doll and be able to move around independently if Mizunashi Reina brought him.

Immediately after having that thought he regretted it. As smart as the boy was and as multi skilled or inventive as he would be in an emergency he was still a civilian. A teenage boy who was now a three inch tall six year old.

When did his life get so weird?

* * *

Conan called Kogoro and explained the situation to him. The situation meaning that he ate something Hakase was messing with and wasn't going to be able to go to the case. Apparently whatever he ate made him extremely tired so he was going to need constant supervision rather than an adult more focused on a murder case.

After grumbling about it for a minute Kogoro asked Amuro and Subaru if they could take Conan to the festival nearby and watch over him. According to him the festival was likely to be heavily guarded so there was no chance of Conan attracting another murderer and it would be a great place to get food from.

Neither Subaru nor Amuro could object as it would ruin their disguise of kind, mild mannered and eager to help citizens. While Furuya and Akai might be different Subaru and Amuro would never refuse an offer to help such an important person with such an understandable problem.

They considered leaving Conan at the professor's but Haibara would need to go check on the Hakase soon and their trip would be more believable if they took a picture. At the very least they would be able to mimic the idea of Conan being normal sized if Kogoro was only looking through their pictures.

As it turned out Conan fit almost perfectly into the jacket pocket of Subaru and Haibara was able to prepare a doll sized winter coat for him to take.

"Careful! Don't drown in a cup or fall down a storm drain Conan! And try not to be eaten by any animals while your out tonight!"

"She's enjoying this way too much considering that it was all her fault to begin with."

"Don't be like that. She's just trying to be positive for you to make the whole situation seem less bad."

"Yes. I'm sure she only has your best interests at heart right now. You are, after all, her only test subject."

"Both of you are included in the 'having way too much fun' category." Conan declared to Subaru and Amuro's teasing. It really didn't feel fair to him when they used the personalities of the disguises he created or worked with against him.

Time to start the festival.

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I'm planning on continuing at some time but I'm not sure when. I know this isn't at all realistic but could you imagine a pocket sized Conan? SOOOOOOO CUTE!


	3. Chapter 3

"Of course it turned out like this…" Conan grumbled with a sigh. Akai, still in his Subaru personality, smiled at that but couldn't help but agree.

"It always does with you around." He talked with a smirk to someone no one else would be able to see even if they were watching him. After all, the last thing they'd expect would be that the person he was talking to was inside his pocket. "I'm honestly not sure why either of us are even remotely surprised anymore."

"I don't think we really are." Furuya called from Subaru's left as Amuro Tooru left his face and a dangerous, confident smirk covered it. "We just have a pointless naive hope that things will turn out differently, even if they never do. Wishful thinking, if you will."

Conan sighed again as he reached his head out of Subaru's pocket and looked at the scene in front of them. Police men walked around in a hurry as Megure heard the reports of yet another murder.

Shifting back inside the pocket Conan thought back to how they ended up at a murderer again. This was starting to become a daily thing…

* * *

The festival had been beautiful as expected. To keep Kogoro from realizing Conan's size they took a picture aligned so that only Conan and the fireworks in the distance were visible, texting that they were watching on the edge of a cliff.

While Conan could only take small bites of anything they got that didn't stop the trio from picking all sorts of different desserts for them to try. Despite the fact that none of them were crazy about sweets the tasters were fun mostly for the experience.

After picking up a small cone of shaved ice a person Subaru and Conan had never seen before came up to them. She introduced herself as a frequent customer of the restaurant Amuro worked at and asked them to help her with a problem she was having.

"You're Amuro, right? If I remember correctly Azusa said that you were an apprentice of Mouri Kogoro, I'm terribly terribly sorry but could I have a minute of your time?" Subaru and Amuro both looked at each other in concern while Conan dropped the mini snowball he had been creating out of a spoonful of shaved ice. (OMG can you even imagine how cute that would be!)

"Sure, what seems to be the problem?" Amuro answered, his silent conversation with Subaru having only taken a second.

The girl, who introduced herself as Mikoru Tachibana, explained the situation. Apparently her boyfriend was being yelled at by the boss for not doing his job. The boyfriend's name was Ichiha and his job as a security guard for a company was leading him to be yelled at for the mysterious disappearance of several of their goods.

The company handled creating festival trinkets and other small toys for a larger toy company but several of the more expensive toys had been disappearing. The company president had come by to the festival to check on how the stall was being run when he noticed several goods were missing. Once that happened he immediately told Mikoru to walk around the festival and had a private chat with her boyfriend. She had been wandering around unsure of what to do until she recognized Amuro.

"Please, I know it's a lot to ask but would you please try to figure out what's been going on? I don't want him to be fired!"

During the discussion Conan had claimed up Subaru's sleeve onto his shoulder where he could whisper anything he wanted to say without catching attention. With the idea of a case to investigate that didn't have anything to do with murder his eyes lit up.

"Akai-san. Let's help her, it sounds like a lot of fun! Besides, Furuya could tell Kogoro (1) about how he was working on his detective skills."

Subaru smiled and gave Conan a slight nod without meeting the boy's eyes as Conan climbed into his scarf to hide.

Having been told about the case Amuro and Subaru began silently thinking about different possibilities the case could have. Both soon realized they would need more information and began drilling her with interrogation questions hidden behind a pleasant smile.

"How long have you and Ichiha been dating, by the way?" Amuro smirked for a moment as the girl blushed and looked to the ground at his question.

"...Only one week." Her answer, however, caused Subaru and Amuro to look at each other while Conan glared with no masks on at her. If it was only for that much time it was possible their relationship was formed with the purpose of removing suspicion. Maybe- no it was too soon to tell.

"How did you get together, if you don't mind me asking."

Turning her head to Subaru she shook off his 'worries' with a smile. "No not at all, as long as this case gets solved I don't mind answering any question you give me. Let's see… I've admired him for a long time. He was always working so hard and everything so I looked up to him. We first met when I joined the company and he decided to help me out by giving me some pointers. His family is a bit poor but he worked really hard to get into the position he's in today so I really admire that about him. There's no way such a nice person could steal from-"

"-Please, continue with your explanation." Amuro interjected, having realized their conversation had long since gotten off track.

"Oh, right!" Shaking her head to get rid of the blush coloring her cheeks she continued. "So I was always looking up to him but about a week and a half ago he confessed to me and asked me out! I was so happy and instantly said yes and we've gone on a few dates since then and gotten to know each other a little better. He has a little sister who he takes care of that is a few years younger than him and has been sick her whole life. Someone who does something like that couldn't possible steal!"

(2) Motive… check. And the possibility that he asked her out to have someone to vouch for him also increased.

"Could you maybe describe anything abnormal that's been happening recently?" Subaru asked as Conan's mouth. Then, for his own question, continued, "Or anyone Ichiha-san has suddenly gotten unusually close to?"

"Eh, I get the first one but why would you want to know the second part?"

"There's a possibility of someone trying to frame your boyfriend and to do that they would need information about him." Subaru half-lied. While that was a possibility it was far more likely that Ichiha was doing these crimes himself from what he heard. During the question and answer session Mikoru revealed that he was the only person who knew the passwords to open all the rooms that the goods were stored in.

"I get it. Wow, you're both really used to doing something like this, do these kind of things happen a lot?"

"Can't hurt to be prepared." Amuro reassured, mentally adding that being around Conan made far worse things happen every hour or so.

"Then to answer your questions if I had to think of anything abnormal… oh, it would be the paintings!"

""Paintings?"" Both Subaru and Amuro repeated in confusion.

"Yes,paintings. For some reason paintings have been appearing in the storage rooms and then disappearing for a day and then a different one will show up. Even when we take them away we can't figure out who owns them. They're not even all that good just odd blobs of different colors."

"Are there any identifying features in them?" Amuro suggested while Conan got into his thinking pose to process the new information.

"No, none at all. As far as we can tell they're just blobs. Oh, and as for your second question he might have suddenly gotten a bit closer to one of his friends named Uruk but other than that the only person I can think of would be myself…"

Suddenly realizing what she just said Mikoru turned around and halted their walk as she stammered, "but don't think that I have any part to play in this. I'm just a bystander and want to get Ichiha out of suspicion… I didn't do anything!"

"Okay, okay we believe you." Amuro said as he and Subaru put up their hands in both surrender and as a calming gesture.

Mikoru turned around to point in the direction of a tent where from behind their was the slight sound of a man's yelling.

Leaning around the tent the group saw that it was a man who was yelling at a subordinate who looked entirely unapologetic.

"Sir, I'm sorry but I don't know what happened to those toys. It's entirely possible that the staff working on them misplaced them somehow. I can assure you I have nothing to do with their disappearance."

"Really? I'm not sure I believe you." The man who Conan assumed to be the boss raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Giving one last glare the boss turned on his heel and walked back into the stand.

"Find out who's 'misplacing' them then before I lose my temper and fire you!"

The man who had been yelled at breathed a sigh of relief as his boss left and turned to Mikoru with a confused expression on his face.

"Miko, who are these men?"

"Hi, Ichiha! This is Amuro, the one who works at that cafe I want us to go to. Remember? I told your that Azusa said he was a detective. I ran into him as I was taking my walk on the other side of the festival and he agreed to see if he could deduce the truth behind whatever's going on here."

The now identified worker Ichiha gave them a genuine looking smile and waved his hand. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Ichiha. I'm Miko's boyfriend, I hope you can figure out something. I have work to do but I'll try to talk to you both later."

He waved goodbye and went in the same direction his superior had gone just a moment before. Miko apologized for bringing them over and not having anything to help them with until her friend came over and dragged her off.

"I'm sorry! I'll be right back, I promise!"

"It's nothing to worry about, it'll give us time to think." Amuro reassured her as the two men sat down on a nearby bench and Conan came out of Subaru's scarf.

"That boyfriend sure doesn't seem very protective over Miko…" Conan observed to which Amuro nodded in agreement and Subaru voiced his own observation.

"Yes, his girlfriend just brought over two young men he's never met before and he didn't get angry or protective in the least. It could just be that's their relationship but considering he's apparently the one who confessed to her that comes with a lot of doubt."

For several seconds the three silently thought through the case and different possibilities for the painting's presence. When Miko returned they would need to talk to her about them.

"Aaaahhhh!" Miko's voice screamed. Subaru and Amuro both shot out of their seats and ran to the sound as Conan grabbed onto the scarf.

Arriving at the source of the noise they found what they feared and was unfortunately starting to become common place for them.

A dead body- the boss from earlier more specifically.

* * *

1\. I know he doesn't call him Kogoro but 'uncle' I just don't like that. Some people do and to those of you who do I'm sorry but I personally dislike how they act around each other. For one I'm not a ShinRan shipper so I don't like the whole father son relationship as much as you might but it's also that Kogoro constantly hits Conan. Even if Kogoro isn't being serious he's still hitting a six year old kid on the head for being curious or for saying something that's true. The idea that Conan could be friendly with him to the point of calling him 'Uncle' makes me a bit angry. Sorry again.

2\. I know that I'm making it super obvious but I'm doing it a bit like those cases where we only have one suspect and Conan already knows it's them just has to figure out how. I can have us follow along with them as they figure it out but I'm nowhere near smart enough to come up with something as good as the canon material.


	4. Chapter 4

Having long gotten used to the process through Conan Subaru and Amuro directed the festival staff along the now memorized series of events.

"Call the police, tell them there's been a murder. Yes, you'll need to explain that, don't forget to tell them your name and where we are. No, they won't be able to get here immediately so none of you can leave the area. I'm sorry but please don't leave, we need to close off this place. Please tell the police that the boss was shot. Yes, I'm sorry. No. Yes. I know…"

Neither of the men had ever felt like this at murder scenes until they met Conan. Even while in the back of their mind they knew this was the first time the people surrounding them had seen a murder it had become so common to them that it was starting to get frustrating that people didn't know what to do- not that they showed their feelings of course.

One of the more annoying parts of their masks were how Amuro Tooru and Subaru Okiya were always happily smiling and had the patience of gods. More than a few times they had wanted to snap at the next person who screamed at the body or didn't believe the victim was actually dead and interfered. Unfortunately such mild mannered people as themselves would never do that so they didn't. It just really made it sink in how much death Conan must see on a weekly basis.

As soon as Megure arrived he scanned the area and found them. The police started doing the investigation and organizations everything more officially while the inspectors came to talk to their frequent acquaintances.

"I really don't know why I wouldn't expect you to be at a murder scene." Megure complained with a sigh. His accusation had no fire in it, that stopped being the case around when Mouri got into his twentieth murder of the month for the first time. With how commonly those people showed up it was almost like they were trained and paid officers who were on duty.

Although Megure wasn't aware he wasn't entirely wrong. Both Akai Shuichi and Furuya Rei were trained, paid civil servants who were on duty. It just happened that one of them was a secret police agent who was under a fake identity and the other was a supposed dead man.

"And is Conan-kun here as well? He always comes to these things." Takagi mentioned while looking around for the child near the body.

"Actually while he came with us we were separated just before the murder and we somehow managed to convince him to not get involved in the murder so that the Mouri's won't be angry with us."

"How did you do that? Especially with how the murder probably happened here where he could hear the screams from."

"Guilt trip using Mouri Ran." Amuro answered and all the police officers nodded their heads, aware of how much the boy hated to make his 'older sister' sad. Out of sight in Subaru's pocket Conan scowled at the idea that if a murder happened he just had to be there.

A nudge from Conan alerted Subaru that Conan wanted to get on with it and he complied, turning to look at Mikoru.

"Excuse me? Could you answer some questions for us?" Jumping a little at suddenly being called Mikoru hesitantly made her way to the police. Her frequent jumping when something startled her made her resemble a frightened rabbit.

Mikoru explained to the police why she would ask for Amuro's help and brought the pictures over to show the police.

As the police began examining the paintings Subaru and Amuro sat off to the side for several minutes until Amuro patted Subaru's shoulder and pointed at the girl. Mikoru was staring at the paintings with dread and fear that was poorly hidden and growing by the second. It was hidden well enough that a glacé would cause a normal person to believe she was simply curious but her white, clenched hands suggested otherwise.

"Is something the matter?" Mikoru turned around so fast to the questions that she almost hit Conan in Subaru's pocket.

"A-amuro… san. No, of course not I'm just… a bit skittish because of the corpse."

Looking at each other Subaru and Amuro shared a grim expression while Conan glared at her lie.

"Have you noticed anything?" Amuro tried again, being the more social of the two. "Anything would help, we just want to solve the murder. Are you sure you haven't noticed anything?"

Mikoru pursed her lips, her shy but cheerful personality replaced by a more closed off one.

"I… the painting. It reminds me of one Ichiha showed me he made a little while ago. Well he didn't show me, we weren't dating yet, but he did show one of his friends at work and I happened to see it."

"Could you tell us who he showed it to?" Mikoru looked up, hesitant and reluctant at Subaru's question but slowly pointed her finger at a brown haired man Ichiha was talking to.

Conan squirmed in the pocket, deciding that he had to get out. Noticing, Subaru pulled Amuro aside so they could talk to Conan together.

"Haah…" Conan took in a deep breath of air the second he was pulled out. Wiping some sweat from his forehead he turned to Subaru and Amuro. "I wasn't able to see the paintings from here, what do you two think?"

"They're either really, really avant-garde or-"

"They were used to make a code." Subaru finished and both men watched as Conan closed his eyes in thought.

"Do they look like they could be turned into numbers?"

"Yes, pretty easily. But it's creative enough that it'll take a while for the police to notice. Unless you think there's someone here who would be able to."

Conan, who had the most personal knowledge of the Tokyo police, shook his head. "No, there are a few detectives in Nagano who would figure it out at about the same speed as us and if the superintendent comes then he would be able to but not here. Sato's smart but she lacks some creativity, Takagi's creative but unless he cares quite a bit about the case he's only a little more helpful than other police detectives. Though we're not in Gunma so at least the police won't ruin the crime scene…"

While his last comment left Subaru and Amuro curious they understood at they would most likely have to lead the police on for now. Conan switched to Amuro so they would be able to keep someone from focusing on whoever's pocket Conan was in. While it might be a bit much it would be a disaster for someone to find Conan.

He began trying to climb up Amuro's sleeve until he was picked up and brought to the man's shoulder. Walking back to the paintings Amuro and Subaru pulled out notebooks and tried to decide what numbers the paintings reminded them of.

Mikoru came back from the police questioning and met up with the 'two' people she had invited over. Occasional fidgets proved that she was still nervous about her admission about the paint from earlier.

"Hi, you two. How's your investigation going? Have you found anything you think would help the police?" Her question proved she was completely unaware of how they were the ones really in charge of the investigation and served to calm their fears. They had been slightly concerned at the amount of hesitation she had when talking to them about the case earlier.

"It's going well for now. We think we might have a few ideas, would you mind directing us to someone who knows the security passwords here. Other than your boyfriend, we wouldn't want him to get any wrong ideas."

Mikoru laughed at Amuro's slight teasing without realizing that Amuro was not talking about their relationship. Happily, she brought them over to a man who was in a similar position to Ichiha, a suspect in their minds.

"Excuse us, may be ask you some questions. It will only take a moment." The person they were talking to happened to be the man who Mikoru claimed had gotten suddenly close to her boyfriend, Takaha. While there was a danger of their investigation being disrupted it was small enough that Amuro and Subaru decided to temporary look past it.

"Ah, yes, what can I help you with?"

"Just a quick question. Does the number 2-566-523 sound at all like something related to the company?" The man's eyes widened as soon as the question was asked but recovered quickly with a calm expression.

"Can I ask how you know that number? I know you're Mikoru's acquaintances but not even she should know it."

Subaru stepped forward with a previously prepared excuse. "We heard the boss mumbling it when we saw him a short while before he was killed. We would like to make sure it wasn't related to the case."

"Ah, you have nothing to worry about then. It's the code for the lock to get into the building so the boss was probably mumbling it to help himself remember. He might have had something to do that was related to it."

"I see. Thank you, that tells us a lot." Amuro gave a nod to the man and left. He confidently strolled to Subaru in a manner unlike Amuro Tooru's usual behavior and gave a smirk. "Shall we begin our explanation?"

* * *

Subaru returned the dangerous look while Conan gave his usual smirk from the pocket. If he were wearing Conan's usual glasses they would have hidden his eyes at the angle his head was facing.

Megure scowled as he was brought to the usual presentation of the crime. Without Mouri or for the first time in a while but Conan was still at the murder so it wasn't unexpected.

"Conan, can you tell me where the paintings are?" Amuro asked to no one the inspectors or suspects could see.

"I called and asked Takagi-keiji to move them next to the bench!" A voice cried out, seemingly far away from the low volume. Amuro turned over his shoulder and found the said paintings in the specified location.

"A child…?" Mikoru mumbled, beginning to wonder if she had simply misheard. The other suspects and civilians had similar reactions while the police had long accepted it as the norm- they had already been told Conan was there in the first place.

"What is it about these paintings that's so important?" Sato asked as they got close enough to properly see them. "These are the ones you found in the office, right?" She directed her question to the suspects and was quickly met with nods.

"Before we explain could we ask you something? It's about the thievery at the company, we believe it's retaliated to this case." Subaru intruded and Megure stopped confused for a moment before agreeing.

"Sure, but… are you sure it's related to the case?"

"I am. It's about Mikoru's boyfriend Ichiha. He's an important member of the security team and seems to be commonly yelled at by the boss, why do you not seem to suspect him? He seems like the obvious candidate for who has been stealing from you."

"During the times when the things inside could be stolen he has an alibi. He couldn't be the one stealing anything from inside." Takagi answered but began looking with suspecting eyes at Ichiha.

"I see, as expected." Amuro's comment had everyone turning around in shock and confusion as he continued. "And what about Takaha-san. Does he have any sort of alibi?"

"N-no. He doesn't." Sato revealed, causing everyone to look at the two men while Mikoru began glancing nervously between her boyfriend and co worker. "But he also has no way of getting the password and I think someone would have noticed if they were secretly meeting to exchange information."

"They didn't have to meet. The numbers were hidden in plain sight if you knew how to look for them." Various gasps and murmurs of confusion circulated around the group until Subaru continued. "2-566-523. Do you know what this number is?"

One member of the security team in the back hesitantly raised their hand. "Um, that's the passwords for the locks in the building but how do you know-"

Amuro and Subaru mirrored each other and pointed to the paintings. The crowd went silent as everyone stared at the paintings.

"Now that they mention it…"

"Yeah, you can kind of see it."

Various murmurs with similar content began spreading through the group as everyone realized that the art could easily be interpreted as numbers if you knew what to look for.

"This is how it happened," Amuro once again became the center of attention as he continued his explanation. "Ichiha created paintings that hid the security numbers of the building then got himself an alibi while Takaha stole whatever he wanted to inside. However, the boss, who had been treating Takaha cruelty for a long time, found out and Ichiha decided to get rid of him. My guess would be that he had his suspicions for a while and when he realized we knew Mouri Kogoro he threaten to tell the police to get you to cooperate with him."

"You have no proof!" Ichiha exploded, his kind, calm personality from earlier having completely shattered. "Besides, I just got together with Mikoru a little while ago. Why would I do something like that if I'm planning on stealing?"

"So that she would do exactly what she ended up doing." Subaru shifted his gaze to her as he spoke. "So that she would get people who she had told you the police trust to look into this case while hearing her side of the story. The side that said you would never in a million years even consider doing something like this."

Despite him being right on his first claim about the proof Ichiha and Takaha slowly started backing away as the police started inching closer. Several seconds of tense silence passed until suddenly, as if a string had been snapped, the tension in the room turned into panic.

The two suspects attempted to run out of the fair but the police were faster. They cut off the exit and circled around the two men.

"Aaaaah!"

"Mikoru!" The workers voice confirmed for everyone who couldn't see beyond the officers of what had just happened. Mikoru had just been taken hostage.

"Anyone come any closer and we'll shoot her head off!" Takaha screamed while Ichiha kept a gun next to her head."

"Ichiha? I- what are you doing? Why are you holding a gun to my head?" Mikoru asked, her voice forcing calm despite her fear.

"Is it shock? How does that girl not realize that situation she's in." Subaru asked, angry at her lack or retaliation against someone aiming a gun at her."

"They may have not known each other long enough to become like you and Akemi but she admired him for far too long. There's no way she's going to be able to face reality at this much stress." Amuro answered then looked past the criminals to a giant water tank on the back of a truck.

Subaru nodded in slight understanding. Taking off his jacket he walked up a set of stairs to the side and got far off ground level. "Good thing we prepared ahead then."

BOOM*

The water tank suddenly burst open, sending a stream of water rushing to the crowd at high speeds. While everyone struggled to get above water the gate out form behind the truck began to close, indicating that someone was in the control tower.

Swimming up allowed everyone to finally gasp for air as the water level shrank. Subaru had left the area to keep his mask from being torn off by the bomb next to the water tank Conan had just set. It turned out that while much slower it was easy to stay unnoticed when you were just a few inches tall.

After setting the time bomb on the truck Conan had sprinted to the control tower and moved next to the button for the gate so he could jump on it the second the bomb exploded.

Seeing the police rapidly apprehending the suspects Conan smirked and leaned against the control panel so he could wait for Subaru and Amuro to pick him up.

"Case closed."


End file.
